Fairy Tales

Character Portrait

This is an activity to get children to focus in on one particular character, or to make a comparison between two different characters.  It can also be used to look at a character before and after an event has occurred. 

Looking specifically at a character can help the children infer ideas from a text, and also helps them to understand how or why a particular character says something or acts in a certain way.  It sometimes requires 'reading between the lines'. 

You can do this activity in a variety of ways.  You can get the children to draw the character and put the facts about the character around the outside. The children could draw a chart listing the features of a character.  A comparison chart could be made, listing the similarities and differences between two characters.  It may be appropriate to have before and after views of a particular character. 

© Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand (First published 1998)